Boiled chicken may seem a thing of the past, but if the chicken is good to begin with, you don’t overcook it, and you serve it with this classic walnut sauce— sometimes called tarator or skordalia—it can be quite fabulous. Make the chicken and the sauce in advance if you like; both are good at room temperature. And, if you prefer, sauté the chicken and serve it with this sauce; see, for example, Chicken Escabeche (page 294) for the cooking technique. If you want to make the sauce without stock, see page 600. Walnut sauce, or tarator, is good not only with chicken but also with plain steamed vegetables— that’s what I’d serve with this, perhaps along with a rice or potato dish.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　Chicken stock, preferably homemade (page 160), or water as needed

　　One 3- to 4-pound chicken, trimmed of excess fat

　　2 medium onions, peeled and quartered

　　2 carrots, chopped

　　2 celery stalks, chopped

　　1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, stems reserved and tied together

　　Salt and black pepper to taste

　　1 thick slice day-old bread

　　1 cup walnuts, blanched

　　3 garlic cloves, peeled

　　1 fresh hot red chile, stemmed and seeded, or 1 teaspoon pure chile powder, like ancho or New Mexico

　　

Step 1

Bring a pot of chicken stock or water to a boil (starting with stock will mean even more flavorful chicken and even better stock when you’re done). Add the chicken, onions, carrots, celery, parsley stems, salt, and pepper; the liquid should just cover the chicken. Simmer, uncovered, over low heat, until the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Remove the chicken and cool to room temperature. Strain the stock and set aside.

　　

Step 2

Put the bread in a bowl and saturate it with some of the stock. Squeeze any excess liquid out of the bread, then place it in a food processor with the parsley leaves, walnuts, garlic, and chile. Process until the walnuts are ground, then, with the machine running, pour in enough of the reserved stock to form a creamy sauce, about 2 cups. Reserve the remaining stock for another use.

　　

Step 3

Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Carve the chicken and serve it with the sauce.

　　

Walnut Chicken Salad

Step 4

When the chicken is cooked, remove the meat from the bones and chop into small pieces; combine with enough of the sauce to create a chicken salad. Serve at room temperature.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.